1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and in particular to a method and apparatus for drilling holes in objects. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for drilling and countersinking with a component that may be moved forward and backwards in an axial direction.
2. Background
Manufacturing involves the use of tools and/or labor to create items for use or sale. In aerospace manufacturing, these items may include, for example, aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. In manufacturing various items, a number of different operations may be performed. For example, these operations may include, for example, extrusion, pressing, rolling, piercing, machining, drilling, routing, and curing.
With respect to drilling, a drill is used to create holes or channels that are typically cylindrical in solid materials. A drill is a tool with a rotating section that may hold a drill bit to drill holes. A drill bit is a cutting tool used to create holes in an object. These holes may be cylindrical or non-cylindrical depending on the particular implementation. Drilling may involve drilling a channel, such as a cylindrical hole.
In other examples, a specific type of drilling called countersinking may be employed to create a countersink. A countersink is a conical hole in an object. Another type of drilling involves creating a counterbore, which creates a flat-bottomed hole that may be used for a hex-headed capscrew. A countersink may be used for a countersink bolt or screw. In this manner, the head of the bolt or screw is flush or below the surface of the surrounding material.
One type of drill that may be used for drilling holes is a drill with a positive feed feature. This positive feed feature allows the drill to push the drill bit into the object while drilling occurs. Drills also may be used in which the feed feature may be used to push the drill bit into the object and then retract the drill bit while drilling occurs. This type of forward and reverse motion of the drill bit may provide for a cleaner quality hole. Further, this type of drilling also may reduce the amount of heat applied to the object, which also may increase the quality of the hole.
Currently available drills are pneumatic drills. Compressed air and an air valve are used to move the drill forward and to retract the drill. This type of drilling is also referred to as a “peck feed” or “peck and feed” process. With the forward and reverse movement of the drill bit, air valves are used to shift back and forth in the direction of the airflow to move the drill bit forward and backward within the hole.
Currently, these drills are difficult to configure for changes between feed forward drilling, peck and feed drilling, and with countersink drilling processes. Current drill systems may be reconfigured by changing out the drill motors or using a different drill. One current drill system may be configured to drill and countersink. An example is a 932QR, which is available from Cooper Power Tools, which is a division of Cooper Industries, LSE.
Although this type of tool provides different feed rates to move a drill back and forth, these drill rates have fixed increments for revolution. Changes to the feed rate and the spindle speed are adjusted by performing mechanical changes to the configuration of the tool. This tool is controlled by air logic valves to perform the forward and backward movement of the drill bit.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus to overcome the problems described above.